September
19, 2003
In
Full Swing: David Sanford and the Pittsburgh Collective
| 
Photo:
Todd M. LeMieux
Assistant
professor of music David Sanford |
Big bands can do more
than just swing. The Mount Holyoke community will have a chance
to find that out on Wednesday, September 24, when the Pittsburgh
Collective plays the work of David Sanford, assistant professor
of music, in the Great Room of Blanchard Campus Center at 8 pm.
The performance, part of the College’s Signature Series,
is free and open to the general public.
The Collective’s performance, said Sanford, takes the typical
instrumentation of a big band and extends its range to works that
run closer at times to modern classical music, but occasionally
incorporate styles from rhythm and blues and bop to punk and even
the tango. “It’s hard to look at it as jazz,”
said Sanford. “That’s generally what people expect
when they hear the term ‘big band,’ and we do have
jazz influences in there. But we go well outside of that with
these pieces.” Stylistically, the audience can expect a
wide range of feel to the music: The Collective lists influences
as diverse as the modern classical work of Stravinsky and Luciano
Berio, jazz composers such as Duke Ellington and Stan Kenton,
and even the funk of Parliament/ Funkadelic and the intense modern
rock of King Crimson.
The 21-member ensemble is composed of players versed in mediums
from classical and jazz to straight-ahead rock, with some musicians
from the Pioneer Valley as well as musical associates of Sanford
dating back to his college days in Colorado. “One of the
trumpet players will be coming in from Tokyo for this, while a
saxophonist is flying in from California,” he said.
However, the makeup of the Collective is critical, according to
Sanford. “We really have a hand-picked group of some of
the best players I know on their instruments,” Sanford said.
“As much as I could, I didn’t spare much expense.”
The Collective’s work has been supported by grants from
the College and the music department, as well as the American
Academy in Rome, where Sanford conducted several of the pieces
with a Roman group during the summer. “The College has been
very generous,” noted Sanford. The ensemble will also take
briefly to the road, performing the following evening, September
25, at the Knitting Factory in New York City.
The shows continue a busy period for Sanford, who teaches courses
in theory, composition, the history of jazz, and music of the
1970s. In addition to his course work and the Collective performances,
he recently authored a composition, “Seventh Avenue Kaddish,”
which was commissioned for Northampton-based cellist Matt Haimovitz’s
new album Anthem. The disc’s pieces for solo cello are based
around themes relating to the 9/11 tragedy.
Still, he said, the ability to write for the Pittsburgh Collective,
and to actually realize that work in performance, is a career
highlight. “This is something I wanted to do as far back
as junior high school,” Sanford said. “It’s
challenging, no question, but very satisfying as well.”
For more information on the Pittsburgh Collective, visit their
Web site at http://www.pittsburghcollective.com.
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